Misconceptions and Inappropriate Solid
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l o rna f Wa ou s J te l a R n e Ali, Int J Waste Resour 2018, 8:1 o s i o t u International Journal a r n c r DOI: 10.4172/2252-5211.1000324 e e t s n I ISSN: 2252-5211 of Waste Resources ResearchResearch Article Article OpenOpen Access Access Misconceptions and Inappropriate Solid Waste Management in Small Towns of Ethiopia: Bule Hora Town, Oromia Region, Ethiopia Adane Sirage Ali* Kotebe Metropolitan University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Abstract Solid waste challenge in developing countries, like Ethiopia, is aggravated by the malfunctioning of traditional waste management systems due to rapid development and the alarmingly increasing human population. Bule Hora Town, in Ethiopia, is among the most environmentally degraded environment due to the inappropriate traditional solid waste management system. Therefore, this study was intended to investigate the public awareness and concern to the ever worsening environmental pollution and why the traditional waste disposal systems can stay dominant in the town. Data were collected using door-to-door close-ended questionnaire by a simple random sampling technique. The findings showed that plastics and festal; fruits, chat leaves and vegetables; and metals and cans respectively made 48(+5)%, 18 (+2)% and 11 (+3)% of the solid waste pool. Variations in the awareness and concern to various environmental degradation among different age groups was clearly seen where people under the age of forty showed better understanding. Response findings showed that the dominant solid waste disposal system is open air burning (42%) followed by open field dumping (36%) showing that the current solid waste management systems is traditional and inappropriate. Moreover, 50% of the respondent above age 40 and 30% of the respondents below age 40 believe that open solid waste burning is a good and long stayed tradition; and it is also undeniable that 35% of the older people related burning of solid waste, particularly during the month of December, has a religion background, which actually is not. Keywords: Bule hora; Solid waste management; Environment; Waste of the society, seems to be right and appropriate. This study is, therefore, disposal; Waste burning intended to investigate the status of the public concern and awareness to their current solid waste management practices. Introduction Materials and Methods Waste problems are said to be the mirror of a society [1]. The state of a society is closely related to its economic, historical, cultural, Description of study area environmental and other aspects. Solid waste problem in developing The study would be conducted in Bule Hora Town, the countries, like Ethiopia, is aggravated by the malfunctioning of administration center of Bule Hora District. It is located 467 km south traditional waste management systems due to rapid development and of Addis Ababa, and lies between 5°35’ and 5°63’N latitude and 38°15’ the alarmingly increasing human population. Understanding the state and 38°25’ longitude and on altitude of 1893 m.a.s.l. it is paved Addis of a society therefore, provides a direction to an understanding of the Ababa Moyale highway, in the Borena Zone of Oromia Region. The waste problems in that particular society [1]. Conversely, it is possible town is among the most important smugglers transition zone where to understand the state of a society by looking at its waste problems. contraband items transfer from Kenya to Ethiopia. In many towns of Ethiopia, urbanization is increasing at a faster The population in the town is alarmingly increasing. The population rate ever in the history of the country, which puts an immense pressure was 12,718,22784 and 35,256 respectively. It is the most populated 907 on municipal services [2]. The rapid urbanization and an increasing people per km², compared to 21.1 people per km² of the overall Borena consumerism behavior with traditional way of waste disposal resulted Zone. in serious challenges. This waste is not being adequately managed because of lack of concern, financial constraint and less priority; as a Sampling design consequence it has created a serious negative externalities on human and environmental health. Data sources and the required data type: All required data were collected both from primary and secondary sources. The primary Waste disposal in Bule Hora Town seems up to the individual households and usually people burn plastics, tires, old clothes and others in the street, around their house, and in any open spaces. The *Corresponding author: Adane Sirage Ali, Kotebe Metropolitan University, Sub smoke from such burning activity is extremely offensive and probably City Wo. 11, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tel: +251-911149050; Fax: +251-911149050; is causing serious human health problems. Plastics and pieces of E-mail: [email protected] materials scattered everywhere on the surface or partly buried in the Received January 12, 2018; Accepted January 27, 2018; Published February dust together with dusty nature of the area apparently caused complete 03, 2018 loss of aesthetics. The population is growing rapidly and it is clear that Citation: Ali AS (2018) Misconceptions and Inappropriate Solid Waste Management the amount of waste precipitate is also rapidly growing, which implies in Small Towns of Ethiopia: Bule Hora Town, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Int J Waste that the challenge would be worsened sooner than later. However, Resour 8: 324. doi: 10.4172/2252-5211.1000324 the awareness and concern to the environmental degradation due to Copyright: © 2018 Ali AS. This is an open-access article distributed under the inappropriate solid waste management could not demand the growing terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted solid waste generation. The present solid waste management, in the eye use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Int J Waste Resour, an open access journal ISSN: 2252-5211 Volume 8 • Issue 1 • 1000324 Citation: Ali AS (2018) Misconceptions and Inappropriate Solid Waste Management in Small Towns of Ethiopia: Bule Hora Town, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Int J Waste Resour 8: 324. doi: 10.4172/2252-5211.1000324 Page 2 of 4 data were collected from sampled households, commercial houses, solid waste burning. The data collected onsite by sorting identification restaurants and hotels. Whilst secondary data were collected through and weighing of the solid waste were used to evaluate solid waste thorough review of all available published and unpublished documents composition/proportion. from relevant organizations. Results and Discussion In the town, there is no defined land use system, instead all are found mixed together in one basket: hotels, chat selling shops, shopping Solid waste composition centers, restaurants and small markets are scattered everywhere The dominant components of solid waste in the town, from mixed together with the residential houses. The sampling frame was repeatedly sampling, were plastics and packaging, leftover foods, old determined in such a way that different land uses in the two were clothes and shoes, pieces of metals and fruits, leaves and vegetables. incorporated. Plastics and festal; fruits, chat leaves and vegetables; and metals and Sampling techniques and data collection: The sampling units cans respectively make up 48(±5)%, 18 (±2)% and 11 (±3)% of the solid were divided into non-overlapping groups resulting in representative waste pool (Figure 1A). Majority of the solid waste was found to be samples. Sampling points were selected using simple random sampling non-biodegradable (64 ± 10%) whereas about 4% of the solid wastes technique. After selecting the sampling points/sites, the data were are identified as hazardous, which most of them are obsolete electronic collected door to door and directly from the damping sites. devices and household appliances (Figure 1B). Majority of the non- biodegradables are mainly composed of plastics used for packaging The data collection was done using checklists which were pre-tested and as containers as the area is the center of border smugglers. About prior to the actual field work. The data on solid waste composition and 32% of the solid wastes are biodegradables, mainly composed of leaves quantity were collected by direction site solid waste analysis method and leftover foods. According to Gardner [4], composting is an ancient and close-ended questionnaire survey from the open dumping site practice where more cities in the world now aday are reclaiming the and garden collection sites. The structured questionnaire was used for benefits of reusing solid organic waste material. However, in Bule Hora, the selected households to generate information about their pollution it is hard see people engaged in such kind of practice. awareness, housing conditions, solid waste handling, solid waste disposal practices and their perception about the common solid waste Solid waste disposal systems burning practices. The most common solid waste disposal mechanisms identified were The onsite determination of the solid waste composition and open field disposal, waste collectors, open air burning in their garden quantification included sorting, identification and weighing of the and arbitrary throwing. Of which, open air burning (42%) followed by sorted solid wastes. The weight of the solid waste generated was surface disposal (36%), which later will be burnt, were found to be the measured at source by using portable scales. For statistical accuracy most common solid waste disposal practices in the town (Figure 2). large and frequent samples were taken from randomly selected Only 14% percent of the respondents collect solid wastes at home and sampling points in the sampling frame. give to waste collectors; whereas about 8% of the respondents throw solid and liquid waste arbitrary to their surroundings (Figure 2). It is Sample size determination: The heterogeneous sampling sites in clear to see that about 78% of the solid waste is managed by burning. the sampling frame consisted of a total of 1000 housing units.